Meatless Monday: Marrow Beans With Swiss Chard And Zesty Lemon Recipe

Meatless Monday: Marrow Beans With Swiss Chard And Zesty Lemon Recipe

Hearty, earthy, meatless comfort food

A hearty, meatless meal that will stick to your bones. (Photo: Jennifer McGruther.)

Award-winning food educator and cookbook author Jennifer McGruther’s The Nourished Kitchen not only teaches how to prepare wholesome, nourishing foods, but also encourages a mindful approach cooking and a celebration of old-world culinary traditions. Brighten up hearty beans and greens with a squeeze of lemon for a satisfying side dish.

I treasure the salty and faintly metallic flavor of Swiss chard, and both the plant’s leaves and stems can bring a different flavor and a different texture to cooking. I like to use them separately, sautéing the tough stems in olive oil, as you might do with celery or onion. The stems soften a bit, losing their tough texture. The leaves, by contrast, grow dull with extended cooking, so I prefer to add them at the very end so they wilt in the heat of the warm beans and chicken broth but maintain their bright color. A bit of lemon helps to brighten the otherwise earthy flavors of beans and greens.